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##  Children with Communication Disorders: Update 2001. ERIC Digest.             

The ability to communicate with others is critical to a young                   child's development and it is a prerequisite to academic learning,              yet some children have disorders that interfere with various aspects            of their abilities to communicate. This digest discusses various                types of communication disorders, their incidence, the learning                 difficulties associated with them, the special case of English                  language learners, and the educational significance of communication            disorders. WHAT IS A COMMUNICATION DISORDER?Children with                 communication disorders have deficits in their ability to exchange              information with others. A communication disorder may occur in the              realm of language, speech and/or hearing. Language difficulties                 include spoken language, reading and/or writing difficulties. Speech            encompasses such areas as articulation and phonology (the ability to            speak clearly and be intelligible), fluency (stuttering), and voice.            Hearing difficulties may also encompass speech problems (e.g.,                  articulation or voice) and/or language problems. Hearing impairments            include deafness and hearing loss, which can result from a                      conductive loss, a sensorineural loss, a mixed loss, or a central               hearing loss. 
Communication disorders may result from many                    different conditions. For example, language-based learning                      disabilities are the result of a difference in brain structure                  present at birth. This particular difficulty may be genetically                 based. Other communication disorders stem from oral-motor                       difficulties (e.g., an apraxia or dysarthia of speech),                         aphasias (difficulties resulting from a stroke which may involve                motor, speech and/or language problems), traumatic brain injuries,              and stuttering, which is now believed to be a neurological deficit.             The most common conditions that affect children's communication                 include language-based learning disabilities, attention deficit                 disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, cerebral palsy,               mental disabilities, cleft lip or palate, and autism spectrum                   disorders. THE INCIDENCE OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERSHow many               children have a communication disorder? Estimates vary according to             the specific disability. According to the Twenty-Second Annual                  Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with                Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (US Department of Education,                  2001), more than 20 percent of students with disabilities or                    1,074,548 children, aged 6 to 21, were served under IDEA in the                 1996-97 school year. IDEA also served a smaller number of students              with hearing impairments (70,883). Attention deficit disorder can               affect as many as two million children, or three to five percent of             American children (American Speech, Language and Hearing                        Association, 2001; Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit                   Hyperactivity Disorder, 2001). CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN WITH               COMMUNICATION DISORDERSA child with a communication problem may             present many different symptoms. These may include difficulty                   following directions, attending to a conversation, pronouncing                  words, perceiving what was said, expressing oneself, or being                   understood because of a stutter or a hoarse voice. Problems with                language may involve difficulty expressing ideas coherently,                    learning new vocabulary, understanding questions, following                     directions, recalling information, understanding and remembering                something that has just been said, reading at a satisfactory pace,              comprehending spoken or read material, learning the alphabet,                   identifying sounds that correspond to letters, perceiving the                   correct order of letters in words, and possibly, spelling.                      Difficulties with speech may include being unintelligible due to a              motor problem or due to poor learning. Sounding hoarse, breathy or              harsh may be due to a voice problem. Stuttering also affects speech             intelligibility because the child's flow of speech is                           interrupted. 
Many communication problems can be improved by                   therapy. Some problems may never be "cured," but children can learn             new strategies to overcome their difficulties (e.g., attention                  deficit or stuttering). Some children may be able to overcome their             deficits as they grow older (e.g., mild language delays), while                 others may compensate by communicating through electronic                       means (e.g., an augmentative communication device or hearing                    aid). STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISHEnrollment of students in the              United States from varying cultural and linguistic backgrounds has              significantly increased over the last few years. These students                 exhibit various levels of functioning within the context of the                 school culture; they are acculturating to the US school system and              they are also learning English. 
It is often difficult for teachers            to tell if these students have a disability or problems resulting               from acculturation and language learning. Code switching or code                mixing, i.e., mixing two languages in the same sentence or                      paragraph, is a natural second language phenomenon-it is not                    indicative of a language disorder. Most bilingual speakers code                 switch or code mix.  An example of code switching by a teacher                  follows. 
The teacher utilizes English, Spanish, and French to                 illustrate her point: 
* What language is mille lacs (one thousand             lakes)? Do you know what that means? What does mille (thousand)                 mean? 'Mille' (French word for one thousand) means mil (Spanish word            for one thousand). Lacs (French word for lakes) means lagos (Spanish            word for lakes). 
Children who speak English as a second language              or speak another dialect do not have a disorder simply because of               their different dialect or language. However, to diagnose an English            language learner with a communication disorder requires that                    symptoms of the disorder be present in both languages or                        dialects. 
Speech-language pathologists in schools thus face the               challenge of how best to provide services for students who are                  learning the English language. The issue is compounded when                     monolingual pathologists must provide services to students from                 bilingual homes. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF COMMUNICATIONS                   DISORDERSA strong relationship exists between communication and             academic achievement. Language and communication proficiency, along             with academic success, depend on whether students can match their               communications to the learning-teaching style of the                            classroom. 
Students with communication disorders are capable of               high academic success if they learn the classroom's social,                     language, and learning patterns. Teachers and speech-language                   pathologists should focus their attention on classroom interactions             and the language and communications used within the school in order             to help students learn to communicate in these environments.                    Explicit language and communication planning as well as                         non-deliberate language use (e.g., unconscious choice of language)              are important features of the school and class environments that                provide opportunities for teaching and                                          learning. RESOURCESAmerican Speech, Language and Hearing                  Association. (2001). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.                  Retrieved from http://www.asha.org/ 
Benner, S. M. (1998). Special             education issues within the context of the American society.                    Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Children and Adults with                                Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD). (2001).                       CHADDFacts. Retrieved from                                                      http://www.chadd.org/about_chadd.htm 
Hall, B. J., Oyer, H. J., &              Haas, W. H. (2001). Speech, language and hearing disorders. A guide             for the teacher (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. 
Hegde, M.             N. (1995). Introduction to communication disorders (2nd ed.).                   Austin, TX: PRO-ED. 
Leeper, L. H., & Gotthoffer, D. (2000). Quick             guide to the Internet for speech-language pathology and audiology.              Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. 
Lue, M. S. (2001). A survey of                   communication disorders for the classroom teacher. Boston, MA: Allyn            and Bacon. 
Nicolosi, L., Harryman, E., & Kresheck, J. (1996).                 Terminology of communication disorders (4th ed.). Baltimore, MD:                Williams and Wilkins. 
Owens, R. E., Metz, D. E., & Haas,                      A. (2000). Introduction to communication disorders. Boston, MA:                 Allyn and Bacon. 
Roseberry-McKibbin, C., & Hegde, M. N. (2000). An            advanced review of speech-language pathology. Austin, TX:                       PRO-ED. 
US Department of Education, Office of Special Education               Programs. (2001). Twenty-second annual report to Congress on the                implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.              Washington, DC: Author. 
ORGANIZATIONS 
The American                          Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 10801 Rockville Pike,                      Rockville, MD 20852, 301-897-5700                                               http://www.professional.asha.org/ 
The National Association of the             Deaf, 814 Thayer Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20910-4500,                           301-587-1788 (Voice), 301-587-1789 (TTY).                                       http://www.nad.org/ 
National Institute on Deafness & Other                    Communication Disorders, 3 National Institutes of Health, 31 Center             Drive, MSC 2320, Bethesda, MD 20892-2320.                                       http:/www.nidcd.nih.gov/ 
INTERNET RESOURCES 
Net Connections for             Communication Disorders and Sciences. An Internet                               Guide (http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/comdis/                                 kuster2/welcome.html) by Judith Maginnis Kuster. This site includes             valuable resources for professionals and students in communication              disorders and sciences as well as for persons with communication                disorders. 
Providing Speech-Language Pathologists Materials and               Research: Issues of Cultural and Linguistic                                     Diversity (CLD) (http://www.asha.ucf.edu) is a site from the                    University of Central Florida awarded an ASHA Office of                         Multicultural Affairs grant. 
The Network on Multicultural                     Communication Sciences and                                                      Disorders (http://www.utexas.edu/coc/csd/multicultural/network/                 home.htm) is a site from the University of Texas at Austin that                 provides "information and links related to universities and training            programs, research and funding, and resources". 
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ERIC                  Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced and               disseminated, but please acknowledge your source. This digest was               prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and               Improvement (OERI), US Department of Education, under Contract No.              ED-99-C0-0026. The opinions expressed in this publication do not                necessarily reflect the positions of OERI or the Department of                  Education.                                                                   **Title:** Children with Communication Disorders: Update 2001. ERIC Digest.             **Note:** Digest E617.                                                                 **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, Council for            Exceptional Children, 1110 North Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA                       22201-5709. Tel: 800-328-0272 (Toll Free); Fax: 703-620-2521;                   e-mail: [email protected]. For full text: http://www.ericec.org.           **Descriptors:**  Classroom Communication,  Communication Disorders, Elementary                  Secondary Education, Incidence,  Limited English Speaking, Multiple             Disabilities,  Second Language Learning,  Student Characteristics            **Identifiers:**
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